Levance Fields stole the show in the final minute for the No. 1 seed Pittsburgh Panthers as he drained a desperation three from straightaway as the shot clock expired and then followed that up with a steal and a length-of-the-court drive and layup as the Panthers prevailed over No. 4 Xavier, 60-55.

Pittsburgh outscored Xavier 33-18 in the second half.

The Panthers advance to face the winner of the Villanova-Duke game in the nightcap. The East Regional championship will be played on Saturday at TD Banknorth Garden.

Levance Fields, with the shot clock winding down, just drilled a high-arcing three-point shot with 47.1 seconds remaining to give Pittsburgh the lead, 55-54. Fields then stole a pass and went the length of the court for an easy layup.

A big break just went Xavier’s way and in a close game, it may be the difference.

B.J. Raymond took a long jumper from the right wing with four seconds remaining on the shot clock. The shot was off the mark but Derrick Brown collected the ball and put it in. The shot clock was at zero but the basket was ruled good.

The video board was showing the CBS replay with a telestrator circling the shot clock at zero but they faded to black. The basket with just under seven minutes put Xavier up, 47-46.

Jermaine Dixon moments ago missed a layup when it appeared he was going to style on a dunk, but Levance Fields was Johnny on the Spot and put back the miss for an easy two Panther points.

They scored the first six points out of the chute and when Pittsburgh, the best offensive rebounding team in the country, grabbed a loose ball after a miss and converted a baseline jumper, an upset Sean Miller called a time out at 16:30, 30 seconds in advance of a TV timeout.

Miller, the Muskies coach, was seen dressing down Derrick Brown for a blown assignment.

When Sam Young converted a fastbreak steal, the Panthers had drawn even with 15:15 remaining. Xavier had yet to score in the second half.

The Xavier Musketeers are playing the perfect game. In taking an eight-point lead, Xavier has taken it to Pittsburgh’s biggest and best players.

Sam Young is 5-for-8 from the field and leads Pittsburgh with 11 points but the rest of the No. 1 seed is a collective 6-for-23 and DeJuan Blair is just 1-for-6 and has just two points and four rebounds.

Xavier has outrebounded their last 24 opponents and they’re on their way to No. 25, as they lead 23-16 on the glass.

Xavier leads by eight despite shooting just 14-for-35 . Derrick Brown has brought his ‘A’ game, with a thunderous dunk midway through the half. Brown has been able to pick his spots and drive the lane. C.J. Anderson has shown his athleticism with a couple of spinning layups.

In short, if the Muskies play like that for another 20 minutes, they’ll be back to the Elite 8 for a second straight year.